NASA Reports That The Earth Is Greener Now Than 20 Years Ago Thanks To Reforestation Efforts

With all of
the discouraging news about global deforestation and the destruction of the Amazon rainforest, it’s good to know
that people in many parts of the world are having great success at re-foresting
planet earth.

Now, NASA is reporting that in the findings of a 20 year study of the earth, there are actually more trees today than there were two decades ago, thanks in large part to the efforts of countries and communities in India and China.

Photo Credit: NASA

The findings
are the result of 20 years of data collection from NASA instruments on board
two satellites orbiting earth.

“Taken
all together, the greening of the planet over the last two decades represents
an increase in leaf area on plants and trees equivalent to the area covered by
all the Amazon rainforests. There are now more than two million square miles of
extra green leaf area per year, compared to the early 2000s – a 5% increase.” [NASA]

A more
detailed explanation from the study:

“Satellite
data show increasing leaf area of vegetation due to direct factors (human
land-use management) and indirect factors (such as climate change, CO2 fertilization,
nitrogen deposition and recovery from natural disturbances). Among these,
climate change and CO2fertilization effects seem to be the dominant
drivers. However, recent satellite data (2000–2017) reveal a greening pattern
that is strikingly prominent in China and India and overlaps with croplands
world-wide. China alone accounts for 25% of the global net increase in leaf
area with only 6.6% of global vegetated area. The greening in China is from
forests (42%) and croplands (32%), but in India is mostly from croplands (82%)
with minor contribution from forests (4.4%). “[Source]

Furthermore,
the news serves as a positive counter to the trend of pollution and
environmental degradation we see today in Asia:

“China
and India account for one-third of the greening, but contain only 9% of the
planet’s land area covered in vegetation – a surprising finding, considering
the general notion of land degradation in populous countries from
overexploitation.” ~Chi Chen, Department of Earth and Environment at Boston
University and lead author of the study

The satellites have recorded photos of the earth every day for 20 years, creating a massive data set that is allowing researchers and biologists to better understand how to preserve the world’s forests.

“This
long-term data lets us dig deeper,” said Rama Nemani, a research scientist at NASA’s Ames
Research Center and a co-author of the new work. “When the greening of the
Earth was first observed, we thought it was due to a warmer, wetter climate and
fertilization from the added carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, leading to more
leaf growth in northern forests, for instance. Now, with the MODIS data that lets
us understand the phenomenon at really small scales, we see that humans are
also contributing.”

Final
Thoughts

The message
is clear: if we come together we can easily remedy the ecological problems we
have created here on earth. Let this good news serve as inspiration to
participate in the re-greening of earth. It also demonstrates how humans can
address serious problems once they become aware of what’s really going on.

“The best
time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is now.” ~Chinese
Proverb

About the
Author

Vic Bishop is a staff writer for WakingTimes.com. He is an observer of people, animals, nature, and he loves to ponder the connection and relationship between them all. A believer in always striving to becoming self-sufficient and free from the matrix, please track him down on Facebook.

This Rainbow River In Colombia Has The Most Amazing Colors In The World

Caño Cristales is a vividly coloured river found in Colombia’s Meta region, in South America. It is commonly known as the “River of Five Colors” or the “Liquid Rainbow,” and when you are first confronted with its breath-taking beauty, you immediately know that these names are by no means an exaggeration.

During the peak season, Caño Cristales sports vivid colours including black, blue, green, yellow and red, the last caused by Macarenia clavigera plants. The river is said to contain no fish, and it is situated in a mountainous region with nearby grasslands. The total length of Caño Cristales is 100 kilometres (62 miles) and it lies in the Serrania de la Macarena National Park.

Image credit: Moterocolombia

Caño Cristales is a fast-flowing river with many rapids and waterfalls. Small circular pits known as giant’s kettles can be found in many parts of the riverbed, which have been formed by pebbles or chunks of harder rocks. Once one of these harder rock fragments falls into one of the cavities, it is rotated by the water current and begins to carve at the cavity wall, increasing the dimensions of the pit.

The river is home to a wide variety of aquatic plants. Its water is extremely clear due to the lack of nutrients and small particles – which also explain the absence of fish. Almost unique is the bright red – pink coloration of riverbed after the rainy period in the end of June – November, caused by the endemic plant species Macarenia clavígera.

The colours of Caño Cristales reach their peak some weeks between June and December, and this is the best time to visit. The river is in a remote area and can only be accessed by aircraft, then boat, and even then, a hike is required.

Tourists were unable to visit Caño Cristales for 20 years, from 1989 to 2008, mainly due to guerrilla warfare in the area, but also because of the potential negative effect they would have on the habitat. However, visitors have been able to tour the area since 2009 with authorised tourism companies.

(TMU) – As the world continues to witness warming climate conditions, there has been a frightful uptick in massive wildfires from California to the Amazon rainforest and the Australian bush.

And as the world’s forests burn to the ground, this creates a dilemma not only for wildlife habitats but also for us humans – because trees help absorb and store carbon dioxide, they are one of our basic lines of defence against global warming.

However, a Canadian startup has set the lofty goal of using drones to plant a billion trees by 2028 – and in the process, the company hopes to revolutionize the manner in which the process of reforestation is tackled.

Flash Forest plans to deploy its revolutionary new technology to identify the best planting sites on fire-scorched land just north of Toronto where it can begin firing specially designed seedpods into the ground. The pods consist of germinated seeds, fertilizer, and a proprietary blend of “secret” ingredients, according to Newsweek.

A spray drone would then cover the area with nutrients such as nitrogen, helping the seedlings to grow, before mapping drones are sent later to monitor progress.

The company hopes to plant at least 40,000 trees in the Toronto region this month alone. Later this year, Flash Forest will also plant up to 300,000 trees in Hawaii.

Now On Kickstarter: Flash Forest | Using Drones to Plant 1 Billion Trees

And while people are capable of planting around 1,500 seed pods by hands, per day – requiring a hectic pace, without a doubt – Flash Forest’s drone solutions are apparently capable of planting 10,000 to 20,000 at present, with the company hoping to eventually be able to plant 100,000 a day.

And not only is the process far less intensive in terms of manual labour required, but it’s also far cheaper at around 50 cents per seed pod – about 20% cheaper than traditional planting techniques.

Image Credit: Flash Forest

According to a studypublished in the journal Science, planting about a billion trees across the globe could remove two-thirds of all carbon dioxide emissions worldwide—approximately 25% of the CO2 in the atmosphere—creating a vast natural means to trap and store the emissions in an affordable and politically non-controversial manner.

Image Credit: Flash Forest

The company claims that its drones can sharply increase the speed and efficiency of planting trees. The company said:

“Flash Forest is a reforestation company that can plant at 10 times the normal rate and at 20% of the cost of traditional tree planting techniques.

With drone engineering, we bring new levels of accuracy, precision and speed to the reforestation industry.”

The world faces a shrinking window of time in which to tackle the problem of heat-trapping emissions, with researchers warningthat rampant and accelerating hot conditions across the world could exceed the worst-case scenarios previously forecast by climate experts – giving added impetus to mitigation efforts.

Flash Forest co-founder and chief strategy officer Angelique Ahlstrom said that’s where its drones can be a crucial part of such a strategy. She told Fast Company:

“There are a lot of different attempts to tackle reforestation. But despite all of them, they’re still failing, with a net loss of 7 billion trees every year.”

Ahlstrom notes that it’s not possible to combat deforestation by planting trees alone – however, Flash Forest’s state-of-the-art hardware using mapping drones and pneumatic-powered firing devices that shoot pods deep into the soil can be an asset in the cause.

Continuing, she said:

“It allows you to get into trickier areas that human planters can’t.”

Each planting will also consist of four species and eventually eight – covering an aspect of mass tree-planting that similar initiatives have overlooked in the past. Ahlstrom said:

“We very much prioritize biodiversity, so we try to plant species that are native to the land as opposed to monocultures.

We work with local seed banks and also take into account that the different changes that climate change brings with temperature rise, anticipating what the climate will be like in five to eight years when these trees are much older and have grown to a more mature stage, and how that will affect them.”

And with researchers claiming that the Earth has room for over 1 trillion additional trees that can be planted across the globe, Flash Forest could help change the way any worldwide planting initiative would take shape. For Ahlstrom, it’s pretty simple math. She said:

“I think that drones are absolutely necessary to hit the kind of targets that we’re saying are necessary to achieve some of our carbon sequestration goals as a global society (and) when you look at the potential for drones, we plant 10 times faster than humans.”

The ‘Underwater Waterfall’ Illusion At Mauritius Island

Mauritius is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles) off the southeast coast of the African continent. Mauritius was first discovered by the Arabs in 975 AD, then by the Portuguese between 1507 and 1513. Since then there have been periods of succession and colonization between the French, Dutch and British. The island gained independence in 1968 and became a republic in 1992.

Located at the Southwestern tip of the island you will find a fascinating illusion. When viewed from above, a runoff of sand and silt deposits creates the impression of an ‘underwater waterfall. Satellite views (as seen in the Google Maps screenshots below) are equally dramatic, as an underwater vortex seemingly appears off the coast of this tropical paradise.

Towering high above is Le Morne Brabant, a basaltic monolith with a summit 556 m (1,824 ft) above sea level. The summit covers an area of over 12 hectares (30 acres) and is situated on Le Morne Brabant peninsula. The area (Le Morne Cultural Landscape) is recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

Recently, videographer ReubenMRU flew his drone high above the island to show what Le Morne Brabant and the nearby ‘underwater waterfall’ look like from above.

Mauritius’s Underwater Waterfall

If you enjoyed reading this article and want to see more like this one, we’d be humbled if you would help us spread the word and share it with your friends and family. Join us in our quest to promote free, useful information to all!

With Tourists Gone, Australian Scuba Tours Are Planting Coral On Great Barrier Reef Instead

(TMU) — As Australia’s tourism has come to a crashing halt following the back-to-back tragedies of an unprecedented bushfire season and the coronavirus pandemic, tourism companies are volunteering their time, labour and resources to give back to the ocean environment.

Family-owned diving tour company Passions of Paradise is one such company hoping to nurture and heal the coastal environment by planting coral on the Great Barrier Reef off Australia’s coast, which has been reeling in recent years due to the devastating impact of human activities.

Passions of Paradise CEO Scott Garden told Karryon that the eco-tourism company has donated an advanced multi-hulled catamaran, the Passions III, as well as fuel and volunteers to the Coral Nurture Program, which was initiated by the tourism industry and scientific community of Australia to bring life back to the Great Barrier Reef.

Garden explained:

“We have been assisting Dr. David Suggett’s team from the University of Technology Sydney who is conducting reef resilience research at one of our 26 reef sites.

“I have been working with Passions of Paradise Environmental Sustainability Coordinator Russell Hosp at the site most weeks recording data for the project and establishing a coral nursery.”

The expansive Great Barrier Reef comprises about 2,900 reefs and 900 islands. It is home to an incredible array of fish, shrimp, and various other reef denizens.

In recent years, dead coral reefs have become one of the major horrors resulting from the impact of human economic activities, with thousands of miles of coral ecosystem across the globe being transformed into bleached-out graveyards due to the devastating impact of fast-heating ocean temperatures, rising sea levels, pollution, marine pests, and overfishing.

As a result, the Great Barrier Reef—the largest living structure on the entire planet—has rapidly died off, turning massive amounts of once-dazzling coral reef ecosystems teeming with healthy marine life into dead zones.

The bleaching and eventual death of the Great Barrier Reef would not only spell doom for ocean life, but would also be the final nail in the coffin of Australia’s lucrative eco-tourism industry whose essential “product” is the environment itself.

The danger of a further degradation of the reef ecosystem coincides with a drastic and prolonged pause in international and domestic travel to Far North Queensland, which largely relies on billions of dollars in tourism revenue to keep local restaurants, hotels, and businesses running.

For this reason, five tourism companies—Passions of Paradise, Wavelength, Ocean Freedom, Sailaway, and Quicksilver Cruises—have pledged to use the lull in tourism to help clean up corals and help eliminate harmful pests that pose a threat to reef ecosystems, such as the crown-of-thorns starfish which is responsible for a large amount of coral destruction in the Great Barrier Reef.

Project coordinator and PhD student Lorna Howlett explained:

“The Coral Nurture Program aims to give operators yet another stewardship activity they can do at their reef sites in addition to Crown-of-Thorns eradication and the Eye on Reef monitoring program.”

The program involves volunteers restoring coral that has been fragmented and re-attaching them to reefs using state-of-the-art technology, such as “coral clips.” Howlett continued:

“We can only use fragments of opportunity found at the site, so Passions of Paradise has installed six frames at the site which can be used as a nursery to grow more corals.

“Once they find a coral fragment they attach it to the nursery to grow and as it grows they can take fragments from it to attach to the reef giving them a continual source of new corals.

“The 12-month project finishes next month, however, the operators can continue to operate the nurseries and out plant the corals.”

Passions of Paradise CEO Garden said that 1,000 pieces of coral have been planted so far on Hastings Reef, one of the most popular reefs for travellers that lies about 30 nautical miles from Queensland’s bustling tourist city of Cairns.

Garden hopes that when the crisis subsides, visitors will be able to indulge in a restored and sustainable ocean environment. He said:

“When tours resume passengers will be able to snorkel over the site which boasts healthy marine life and corals near the nursery.”